Help! Need Greek themed items for adult hamper

[recklessgran]

Just that really. I want to make a hamper for DH. He is obsessed with the Greek Islands [as am I] and we holiday there as often as we can. Hoping to cheer him up in the dreary winter months after Christmas with this. I have found a beautiful wooden jigsaw called Greek Vacation at Wentworth puzzles for a starter. I'm looking for a good Greek cookbook so any recommendations most welcome. Ditto any Greek based novels? [ He's read Captain Corelli's Mandolin.] Also any other suggestions ? I will add some food and sweets -items he likes such as baclava, olives etc. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Kalamata olive oil is the best in the world, Sainsburys, Ocado etc will stock some.

Mary Renault's Alexander trilogy is a captivating adventure story, not to be missed.

Captain Correlli's Mandolin is set on the island of Kefalonia. Im afraid I don't know who it's by but there is a DVD starring Nicholas Cage.

Vela's cookbook is the Greek cookery bible. Every household just about has a copy.

There's a brilliant book called Eleni by Nicholas Gage. It's a true story based on the experiences of a woman in the Greek civil war, written by her son. It's been passed round my whole family and everyone loved it. It's quite harrowing at times but a fantastic snapshot into what life was like for those that lived through that period of history.

How about a komboloi? The string of beads you see all the Greek men playing with in the cafes?

A handheld frother to make his own frappe coffee? You can pick them up really cheap on Amazon. Maybe some nice coffee to go with it?

Vefa...

Metaxa 5 star. Amazon. Greek brandy, its nice with Diet Coke and ice.

@xtinak

Some Korrres products? Lots of lovely scented shower gels with quite unusual Greek inspired scents.

I was just about to suggest this. They're so gorgeous and if your husband doesn't use them you can "borrow " them

Fortnum and Mason and the honey stand at Borough Market do fantastic Cretan honey which would be fun to add in, possibly alongside some Saganaki

Best of Nana Mouskouri CD. Or maybe Demis Roussos.

But Nana is surprisingly listenable!

Can you create a lovely fancy version of this poem - maybe framed or something?

Ithaka by C.P.Cavafy

Get him some Worry beads to play with and a nail file so he can grown one long pinky nail.

If you want music - have a look at Locomundo on Spotify - they're a Greek reggae group - should get you in a petty mood.

Robert Graves' The Greek Myths - a sort of encyclopedia of the myths.

A subscription to an online classical Greek course - probably easier to learn on line than modern as you only need to learn to translate and not speak?

• City Lit do them www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/languages/classical-languages/classical-and-new-testament-greek?gclid=CjwKCAjwzIH7BRAbEiwAoDxxTssNiBQK3CWf968L4kwtuzoMu6Foc6O6MxhzhD2gYjFQoBPhfXADfxoCq6wQAvD_BwE

I love Greece and her islands too! "The Greek for Love" by James Chatto is definitely worth a read. Despite the title it's not a soppy romance, it's about a young couple who ditch their lives In London and buy and renovate a villa on Corfu. It's very evocative and definitely made me want to have a go at island life!

The King must Die - Mary Renault's retelling of the Theseus myth. And the sequel "The Bull From The Sea". Some of Mary Stewart's books are set in Greece, but they might be a bit romantic for him.(Although they're thrillers as well)

"Ill Met By Moonlight" by W Stanley Moss, the wartime story of the kidnapping of a German general on Crete, by a small group of British & Cretan fighters. Patrick Leigh Fermor and the Cretan landscape take starring roles in this gripping Boy's Own Adventure story!

DVDs of famous Greek movies (Mamma Mia, Zorba the Greek coming to mind).
CDs of typical Greek music.
A kit to make some Greek dish.
A voucher for your nearest Greek restaurant.
A book on Greek Mythology.
A t-shirt that says I love Greece or something like that (even better two matching ones!).
A pair of socks with the Greek flag on.
A bottle of oozo or raki.

Love all these ideas!

It only starts in Greece, but the saga of a Greek family, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides is brilliant.

These are absolutely brilliant - thank you all so much. He's a great reader so I'm particularly chuffed by the book recommendations. This is going to be his best hamper ever.

More Greek Cypriot than Greek Islands, but melomakarona are lovely Christmassy cake/biscuit type things. Can buy them boxed, but fresh are amazing if you can get them.

I received a lovely Santorini jigsaw puzzle one year.

Another Cypriot treat is Loukoumades (sp?) - little deep-fried honeyballs yum!! I think they're best fresh from being cooked though.

Retsina wine. Yum. Yum yum

@bunnyonthemantle

Get him some Worry beads to play with and a nail file so he can grown one long pinky nail.

🤣😂 and a matchstick to use as a toothpick.

what about an olive tree? Or a grow your own type thing. My mums a gardener and still has the one I bought her a few years ago. I think I may have ordered it through notontheyhighstreet.com ? The cherry tree i got her last year was from there anyway x

On my bedside table.

Circe is a great book as well. Half the book focuses on her life before she gets on the island that she meets odysseus on and then it carries on from there. Really interesting to look at things from her pov